Day 5 Monday 31/5/21 Tocumwal, icy to warm again 0-16

A crispy frosty morning and we’re up early to drive the 20kms to Finley for Woody’s blood test* only to be told that blood tests are by appointment only. We console ourselves by buying pasties from the award-winning Finley Bakery which has just been awarded ‘Best pastie in Oz’.

We quickly retreat to base camp and wait in the van for the morning to warm up before reheating and eating our pasties in the lunchtime sun. The afternoon is spent reading, sketching the house across the road and walks along the riverbank.

With more Covid cases in Melbourne the lockdown is likely to extend, but we’ll be free to leave here on Thursday. The office has given us a hard copy of our invoice to show proof of our arrival time and stay.

We receive a text from cousin R and she mentions that her nephew and his family are quarantining in Tocumwal and sure enough they’re in our park and we had met them in the camp kitchen a few nights ago and heard all about their plans to explore northern Queensland, unaware of course that we are all (even VeeWee) distant relatives.

* Medical visits are exempt from the ‘stay in place’ order but he can’t cross the Victorian border to Cobram without returning to full lockdown.

Towing Kms: 0

Accom: $29.75